URL Rewriter: demo on trunk doesn't work

I followed the instructions on http://urlrewriter.forge.onehippo.org/build-demo.html to build the plugin locally on trunk, and also build and run the demo. Both are on version 1.06.02-SNAPSHOT.

The cms works, and I can see the demo documents of the URL rewriter. The site does not work, so I cannot see the rewrite rules in action. The project seems to be a clean archetype project without any essentials setup. But the essentials app doesn't work. To get it to work, uncommenting the project.basedir systemproperty of the cargo plugin is a first step, but that didn't bring essentials to life.

[edit by JH] in fact, you can see the redirects in action because they are applied before the HST site renders, but it's just not so clear. An Essentials feature does not have to be installed for demo purposes.